May 20, 2012
The Greek currently feel about Germany in financial matters like the Filipinos about the USA when it comes to the military – pissed off about paternalism and lack of ‘independence’. But as soon as they are in the deep shit (i.e. bankrupt / razed by China) they cry out for help from exactly those countries they trash talk about.
True story.
April 12, 2012
Ever since I moved to a new place lately sleeping isn’t all that easy. I stay up way late until 3 or 4am, only to lie awake for another seeming eternity. Then I sleep a few hours only to start up again, resulting in me definitely not being in good shape in general. Even though I am leading a quite active lifestyle – walking a lot, working, going to the gym, and I am sufficiently tired when I get home at night – I just can’t go to sleep, for whatever reason. Then eventually when the moment comes that I force myself to call it a night I turn off my laptop, I switch off the power supplies, the aircon and the light. Then I lie down – and then there is this odd moment of complete silence…
I can consider myself lucky; my room is completely dark at night and the only sound I can hear – if I listen very closely – is the traffic from the expressway a few blocks away and across the river. It’s a really nice place to sleep actually.
Maybe it’s the coping with the new environment. After all my last room for nine months was always flooded with light from the adjacent car park and the fan was so loud my friends couldn’t even hear me on Skype; the house I lived in for five years before that was built directly next to the town’s main street. If it was just that though I would only have a problem with falling asleep. But actually, something seems to be keeping me up and away from even trying to sleep this long.
So maybe it is a little more than that – this moment of complete emptiness, of literally nothing, is something I dread. As long as there is light, the laptop, a book, there is always something to do, something to live for, people to interact with. As soon as everything is off there is just nothing – just you, alone with checking the balance of the day – what came out of all these hours in the end? Anything useful? Anything to be proud of? Anything you will be remembered for?
It is in these moments of complete silence that you become truly aware of who you are, and I guess lately I am not quite the person future me will be proud of, or past me (that is, even a few weeks back) strove to be.
So I guess the way to better sleeping will be to refuel my energy with Coke and then getting my ass out there to do something meaningful and accomplish something, even though my current environment is doing its best to clip my wings in that matter. Just have to alter the environment then. That shall be my first task.
November 22, 2011 1 Comment
It has been a while since my last I-love-Singapore post. A lot has changed since then, and the place that was so full of adventures to be experienced lost its touristy shine and has acquired the dullness of home.
Not that I think this is worse than my old home – no way – but it has become a home, and a home is never as good as a travel destination. When you see a city with a tourist’s eyes everything is exciting, new, foreign, virgin. But after a while the landmarks and sites become the turf you tread on safely. You start avoiding the ‘touristy’ places because you happen to know some side road that leads you around the crowd. The giant towers that are the home to banks and trading corporations, standing tall against the tropical sky and shining bright in the darkness, they have become a familar background. What is the world’s largest ferris wheel but a big blue circle in the background while you roam the streets at night on very un-touristy missions? What is Marina Bay Sands but three very familar sisters the sight of which does not excite but reassure you – yes, I am still home, I am still me, I am still alive. What does Orchard Road mean to you other than a place that has some nice restaurants and movie theaters, a place you can go to hang out every once in a while while thousands of others gaze in wonder on the luxury this place is full of. But it’s more than just being familiar with the things others travel so far to see. It is the way every corner suddenly holds significance, how you can’t go anywhere without thinking of some long-forgotten incident when you happened to come by here before. When I come to Clarke Quay these days I think of how I spent my first club night with my school friends here, and how our bags were locked in a locker the key to which somebody had taken home. I go here, I go there, all these places I knew after having been to Singapore a few times but which were just places, just corners. Now they are silent witnesses of times gone by, of the people you went with. This is where I waited for my date this one night, that is where we studied for our exams back then, and there I threw up after getting roaring drunk one night. Here we went on a study trip, there we ate and let me tell you about the food they serve there…Stories. It is what makes a place your home. It is like the whole place gets loaded with stories, with memories, and thus with significance. After a while you can’t turn a stone without finding some memory. This is what made me leave my little hometown after 21 years there, coming to Singapore. But then I didn’t think about how Singapore itself might become loaded with significance.
After almost five months I have experienced a lot. Barely one of the common places I can go without thinking of somebody, of one moment out of those five exciting months, of the feelings it gave me. Here I sat with Wylie, outside Dhoby Ghaut station, waiting for our friend to arrive because we were going to study together. The sight of her coming up the escalator, a beautiful angel in a white shirt ascending out of nowhere smiling radiantly when she saw us, is a vivid memory that comes back every time I myself pass by. Just across the street, months later, three of us sat in the pouring rain waiting for our friend to finish his doctor’s appointment. Right next to it is the staircase I just recently walked up with a good buddy talking about the significant things in life. Shortly before I had walked the same staircase while showing a German friend around the city, and later with my two oldest local friends on the way to a concert together. That is only Dhoby Ghaut. There is Toa Payoh, there is Novena, there is Raffles Place. Marina Mandarin Hotel will always be the place I returned to to pick up the student pass my friend had lost there during a party night. And of course Clarke Quay and Geylang are full of – fragmented – memories of good times and bad times. Ever showed you the spot where the Lamborghini was parked that I considered to be my little yellow car? I can show you, it’s right here…
So yes, Singapore has become my home. I hadn’t considered that possibility. I actually came here thinking that I could just do six months, an experience similar to the year in Australia every German who is too lazy to sign up for university already does. But this is more than a ‘work and travel’ program or gap year. I study here. I immersed. Sure, every experience abroad is fun and exciting, every time you travel brings you home with more experiences than you can ever share in your lifetime. But if you study abroad something else happens: you become a part of it. Your classmates become your friends, they become your wingmen, they become your lovers, some become your enemies. You are a part of something, something that would not be the same without you and of which you can not just drop out like that. Because this is home. And leaving home ain’t ever easy.
Yes, I thought I could just wing some six months in a tropical island paradise, maybe get some girls on the side – nothing too serious – and then leave with some nice stories to tell and some new facebook contacts but without much regret. I thought it would be a vacation. But what I found is much more than that. It is a home, and it is an existence, a life. What I found was not acquaintances and facebook contacts – what I found was real friends and bros. What I found was not ‘some girls on the side’ and conquests to boast about – what I found was what looks like it has potential to turn into something way serious.
Thus, thinking about leaving in little more than one month time places a deep sorrow, sadness and pain in my heart. It all turned into more than I ever expected or wanted it to be. I underestimated everything, and most importantly: I have never been more happy than here, now, with those people. We all started university year one (which only lasts six months here) together, we have walked a big chunk of the way together. They will all continue to the degree. And if I leave, less than one third of the way through, it will feel like dropping out too early. It will feel like not having completed the mission, even though the mission was only to do year one and get the Diploma. And it will feel like leaving my friends behind, dropping out of a functioning group. What would the class be like without me? Will Wylie be able to manage the work group all by himself? Who will he go to that German pub with once a week? How about all of them, how would their lives be different without me, would they even miss me? Probably they would, but they would carry on, I would read on facebook about all the things they did in all the places I am familiar with and I would sit some ten thousand kilometers away with that nostalgic sorrow in my heart.
You know what? I experienced the very same thing just one year ago, when I had to quit my Air Force service way early, leaving my comrades behind at the base. It didn’t feel good. To this day I hate having had to leave, I still hate missing out on completing the mission. We had started that together, and we were supposed to finish it together. I couldn’t finish it with them and it will make me feel bad for the rest of my life. That was missing out on four of six months – now we are talking about missing out on two out of two and a half years! One day they will all graduate, step up there to receive their Bachelor’s certificates, proud and happy. And I would not be there, and if I was then only as a spectator. Just like last year, when I drove all the way to Berlin to stand at the side watching my comrades pledge to protect the country. At that time I was a dropout, not part of it anymore. My comrades were happy to see me but we could not finish the mission together. Knowing me, I would probably fly down to Singapore to attend my classmates’ graduation in two years time, but only as a spectator. Watch the team finish the mission we had set out to finish together. I do not want to have this feeling.
And don’t talk about the personal side of it. Friendships, still young but strong, left behind. People you had so many laughs with you will probably never see again in your life. And then that serious thing – it is just a notion but it feels like it’s bigger than words, for sure bigger than a fling. Leave that, before it has even really started? How? Tell me how could I ever do that!
Yes, Singapore has become my home, and it will never be the same. When I visited three times between 2008 and 2010, even when I first moved here in June, it was pretty much the same. But after five months here, it will never, ever be the same. If I leave and only come back in twenty years time all the places will still remind me. I will walk the old streets and wonder what has become of ‘my’ Singapore (because they keep changing stuff). I will go to our old hangouts and remember, remember the ‘good old times’. The time we took a cab from Clarke Quay to Balestier and back to get the key for the locker our bags were in. Time time I wondered what my yellow car was doing in Singapore and why it was so flat all of a sudden. The time my friend ascended like an angel out of nowhere. The time my new years resolution of not puking from alcohol was broken in the wee morning hours of August 28, 2011, in a coffee shop washroom in Geylang. The many times Wylie and I went for Erdinger in Holland Village. Then time when this, the time when that…
I hated home. My old home. Because there were too many stories. My life was not always awesome – and it still isn’t, btw, even though it improved a lot since my father threatened to kill me and my first love left me at the same time – and there was just way too much. Too many stories on every corner, and it is a much smaller town than Singapore. So i had to get out of there, after 21 years. Plus, it was a crossroads in life where my high school friends and I went different ways anyway. The old life had been over, and so it was easy to come to Singapore. But my purpose in Singapore is not served. I need more time, I need to stay, I need to finish what I started. Given, what I started was much smaller than what I need to finish now, but that is no concern for me. I love it. I love my life. I love having Singapore as my home.
Our year one, and therefore my initial mission, will be finished soon. I have applied for bursary because if I stay, I can not pay the school fees. All my savings went into paying the school fees for the six months tropical island adventure. Now it has turned into a whole new life. But I can not finance it. Still no answer about the bursary, but I need one soon. My deadline for deciding to leave if there was no answer by then was originally in early November. Then it was late November. Now it is Christmas. I keep postponing the deadline because I dread, I absolutely dread the idea of having to leave. But soon, very soon, I will be facing the student contract for year two. If I don’t face a scholarship or bursary at the same time I will have to do the hardest thing I had to do since putting my old dog to rest – get up and leave without a signature. And I will leave more than just a school. I will leave friends, very good friends. I will leave love, or what is supposed to turn into love. I will leave the body I am a part of and which will continue living without me, with a scar left but clearly without me. And I will be facing a new beginning yet again. Returning to Europe does not mean returning to my old life. My old life has been gone since my old friends scattered all over Germany to universities, starting new lives just like I did in Singapore. I will have to start over again, most likely the way I planned, by attending a pilot school in Austria. I can’t wait to start flying already, which I have known is my purpose in life for so many years. But now I feel it has time. Time until I finish my purpose in Singapore.
And I hope to god I will be able to finish it.
August 21, 2011
I think I am going to have to start entertaining the thought that my laptop will not make it until January. That was the minimum, and I wanted to look around for a new one when I am back in Germany. But recently it does not look good. The display has been flickering for a few months now, but now the case is suffering fatigue and literally breaking apart. In addition, the cooling seems to not work properly anymore as the computer is constantly heated up so much that sometimes one can barely touch the touchpad.
Now, buying a laptop in Singapore has a few disadvantages, the most notorious of which being the keyboard. I am pretty sure that finding a laptop with a German layout keyboard will be damn difficult and that one – if it exists – would be expensive. Many people who buy their laptops abroad don’t mind the different keyboard but I do. It is not only that the letters are switched – you can still switch them back in the system anyway – but the standard QWERTY-keyboard has some way different keys in itself. The return/enter key for example is quite big on a German keyboard, while in English-layout keyboards this space is actually occupied by two keys. So every time I use a QWERTY and hit the return key it goes “\” instead. Annoying. I want a QWERTZ the way it should be. With a desktop computer that is no problem as yo can just change the keyboard, with a laptop you are stuck.
A second problem is customs. My friend actually has a criminal record because he did not know that when bringing his laptop bought and used abroad to Germany he had to pay customs. And I do not want to pay customs. Airport formalities are annoying enough, I can only imagine how pissed off I would be if I had to walk through the red gate. No thank you.
That aside, I do not like engaging in complex buying behavior again. Buying a computer is difficult because of all the parameters that have to be considered. I’m simply too lazy to buy a new laptop. And so, for now I will keep my old one and use it until it really drops dead. Then of course I will cry big time.
June 30, 2011
I just moved to Singapore and basically the most important task was to find a home. It was difficult, exhausting and held some bad surprises, especially when I tried to take first action while I was still at home. At the end of the tiresome journey I was rewarded, but I wish I had known what I know now. And so I want to leave a few thoughts for those who might face this monster someday in the future. And I think there will be many.
Know the city
I had been to Singapore three times before so I wasn’t a stranger to her, which proved to be very valuable. There are a few things one should know.
First of all, there are many people on a little island. This country has the third highest population density worldwide, after Macau and Monaco, before Hong Kong and Gibraltar. This fact is crucial when considering the hunt for a home: don’t expect a big garden or wide views. And don’t expect small communities, detached houses with a fence around them. Don’t look for a cozy suburb. The Singaporean word for Suburb is Malaysia. This is a skyscraper city.
The backbone of the whole island is the Mass Rapid Transit, or MRT. With only three and a half lines (one still partly under construction) it is insanely effective in transporting millions of people every day. The next station is never hard to find and you will wait less than five minutes for a train. Since it is rapid it makes travel times smaller, so living in remote part of the island becomes more likely.
The core of the island is the CBD, where all the office highrises are. But Singapore is (turning into) a multi-core city with different business hotspots developing. Still, the area of Marina Bay, Carke Quay and Sentosa in the south is the place anyone goes to sooner or later. Orchard Road, just north of Carke Quay, is the main shopping site. Changi Airport, repeatedly awarded as the best airport in the world, is all the way on the eastern end of the city, yet easy to reach by train. Generally, the further away from the center, the cheaper living becomes.
Most people here live with roommates, and people who rent themselves rent out rooms they don’t need to compensate the high prices. Especially students only rent a room, unlike in Europe where you would maybe get a whole apartment for yourself. There are a few differences in housing types. If you are on a budget, like a student, you will most likely end up in an HDB. HDB is short for Housing Development Board and means that this building was planned and managed by the government. It is public housing, but definitely not with a negative connotation. In fact, one might get a bigger room in an HDB for the same money as in a Condo. This is another type of high-rise apartment building, but privately developed. Hence, Condos cater to higher budgets and often feature a pool and a gym as well as a fence and security gates. If you are only looking for a room, you will have to distinguish between a Common Room and a Master’s Room. The Master’s has an attached bathroom, but is not necessarily bigger or better.
Make up your mind
The best and basically only possible preparation before moving to Singapore is to make up ones mind. Three aspects should be considered:
- Geography: get a map, preferably one that shows the MRT, and dot the place you will work or study. Also dot the city center (Dhoby Ghaut or City Hall MRT stations) Now you can draw a line to fence in the area living in would be acceptable considering the
- Travel time: The SMRT Journey Planner helps finding out how long one would need to get from one place to another. How long you want your commute to be determines the size of your acceptable housing area. Of course you can also use Google Maps to find out the connection between two places.
- Budget: Everything in Singapore is cheap compared to Europe, but rent is not. Property value and rents have been in a steep rise for years now and nobody knows when the crash will finally come. When it comes, it will be devastating but until then expect to pay a lot. Even comparable property sometimes has quite different values though, so it is possible to get a bargain but also, more likely, to be ripped off.
Get a picture
Do you have your map with you on which you drew the outside line? Did you write down the cap of how much money you want to spend? Good, now you can start looking around. In this highly developed country, the internet is the way to go. Lots of websites have set out to make money by bringing people home. I used three different ones, which all have a different approach.
Property Guru is Singapore’s #1 property website, trusted and recommended by locals. On this website mostly real estate agents post their ads. With an agent, you make sure that the contract is set up professionally and you are not being ripped off. On the other side, an agent will charge you a fee of half a month rent plus taxes. Propertyguru gives much insight into the advertised buildings and direct contact to the agent. Forget the “send email directly to the advertiser” option, they never reply. If you are not proficient in Singlish, forget calling them as you won’t understand a word. The easiest way is to send an SMS.
Easyroommate desires to get people together. This is less a landlord-tenant approach but – as the name suggests – a place to find roommates. Not only the landlord puts up an ad but also the person looking for a room, both can contact each other and communicate on eye level. You will mostly get around paying the agents fee here, even though some clever agents have moved onto this turf. Since the ads are not professional, they sometimes lack information and pictures; since there is no professional involved to control the transaction one could get ripped off – just be careful and do not commit to anything before you haven’t met the person and seen the room. Ripoffs will ask you to give them your passport number and current address. Forget about that. It’s just common sense.
RoomsDB seems to be less popular, even though I think it has a great system because it allows you to look specifically for a Master’s or Common room. Since I myself wanted to have a Master’s this was the most efficient search engine. It also returns the most replies. On the other sites you will have to consider 70 to 80 per cent of your emails, messages and SMS to go unanswered.
I tried to make deals and set dates for viewings with people I got in contact with on these sites long before I even came to Singapore. That was a waste of time, don’t do that. Just use these to inform yourself, get a sense of what the places are like and what to expect. You shouldn’t start being active before you arrive on the island.
On the island – the action begins
Make sure to have a valid stay for the first part of your stay. I was kindly allowed to stay with my local friends, others may not be so lucky and consider a hostel. When the viewing season begins, you will travel around the city a lot so make sure you are staying close to public transport (ie the MRT.)
Get a Singaporean phone number asap. Agents and landlords will not call or SMS you back if you do not have a local number. Prepaid phone cards are available at any convenience store. Generally, the SMS way yields the most replies, so include your number in emails you send or your ad on Easyroommate so that people can get back to you immediately. Singaporeans love their phones, which is something I definitely can’t understand. With 3G Wifi available islandwide, they should be much more active via Email.
Sort out what you want, bookmark ads, send SMS. Never lose hope. And when the opportunity arises to view a place, go as soon as possible. Also, always be ready to close the deal. When I went to my first viewing here I really liked the place and the landlady, but of course I didn’t have enough money with me to pay the deposit. The next day – snap – it was taken. That is when I knew I furthermore had to abandon my German “sleep over every important decision” mentality. Doesn’t work. No matter how interested you are, they will give the place away to whoever pays first. In conclusion I walked around with a four-digit sum in my pocket for almost a week. Good thing there are no pickpockets here. And when I saw a place I really liked a lot, I paid the deposit. Don’t think too much, act.
A few thoughts on…
… agents
As mentioned before, agents will make sure everything goes well and your rent is legal. However, that does not mean they won’t try to rip you off. If they propose too high a rent, don’t think “ah, that’s gotta be fair, after all it’s an agent.” Nono, if it’s too much then say no.
Furthermore, I was quite surprised at the attitude agents have here. Typically, it’s their job to kiss people’s asses, but in this city the demand for living is so high, people move in and out so frequently, that agents are having a golden age. As a result, they act pretty high and mighty and might just hang up on you. Just forget about them and move on. Some are genuinely nice and helpful.
… agent fees
Like I mentioned earlier, agents will charge a fee. Typically this is half a month rent plus the 7.5% tax for that. Hence, you pay the agent 53.75% of a month’s rent. But don’t do that before you sign the contract.
… aircon
You will probably not need air conditioning as much as you think. Especially areas close to the sea experience a nice breeze, the higher the storey the better, of course. However, when the air is not moving at all aircon will be the only way to control the temperature. Unlike European summers, the heat does not stem from the direct sun. It is in the air, in the ground, it is everywhere. No escape from that, although on a sunny day shade helps of course. Still, aircon kills my voice and even gave me a cold during an earlier visit. Just point the fan right at you and you should be good.
… deposit
It is customary to pay one month rent as a deposit. This is the guarantee that you will move in and the room won’t be rented to someone else, so when you like a place just put the deposit down at least. If you don’t break anything, you should get it back at the end of your stay.
… ladies
If you are female and alone, you will have much, much less problems finding a place. Why is that so? I don’t know, but I started being quite pissed at this sexism. Big, cheap rooms are often marked as “single lady only”. My friend maintains that this is because people here still generally believe that women are cleaner, more responsible and easier to deal with. Which, as we all know, is complete bullcrap. But Singapore is a haven for prevailing prejudices, so we just have to live with this problem. The single ladies of course have all reason to be happy.
… racism
Singaporeans are racist. When I applied for my students pass, I was supposed to put down what race I am. I figured that “homo sapiens sapiens” is not what they wanted to hear, and “German” as well as “White” just sounded wrong. So I put “European”. Turns out they changed it to “other”. The only purpose this has is to balance the main ethnic groups. Chinese, Malay and Indian. This is owed to a policy which shall make sure people stay mixed and there are no ghettos developing. Of course there are still culturally significant areas like Chinatown, Little India or Arab Street, but the ethnic groups are not isolated from another. I think this makes sense.
But I feel that the major reason people will write “no Chinese” or “no Indian, sorry” in their ads is that the different lifestyles would affect one another. I met a landlord who mostly hosts European expats, and who claims to never allow Chinese nationals (from mainland China) in his apartments. When I asked why he said that this was because their lifestyle would affect the other roommates too greatly. The day after I viewed a room in an apartment that was inhabited by six PRC nationals and I saw what the guy was talking about. This was generally a nice apartment but extremely messy, dirty and noisy. By not even saying hello and pretending not to notice their potential future roommate, these people made an extremely rude impression on me. Something I would have never expected from Chinese, to be honest.
I was told that many people do not allow Indians due to their cooking, which is very smelly. The third reason I can think about is that people just want harmony, and harmony is best established if you live with people you can relate to. Hence an Indian would prefer living with another Indian, a Chinese with another Chinese and a German with another German – while Indians and Chinese would probably not like living with Germans for reasons I can imagine well. That is how it is, people are different and people here express that in a weird way. I don’t think they are “racist” as Nazis are, they are just less hypocritical and celebrate the difference. As a European, I never experienced any problems so far.
… transport
You get around well in Singapore. Even the remote areas should not be more than an hour from the city center. I haven’t been to the north coast though so I can only suspect that it is this way. Generally the transport system is blast and cheap, too. An MRT ride costs 1$ and up, you can take a taxi through half the island for only 30$ (in Germany they would only take you around the corner for that.) During your viewing season, you will most likely travel criss-cross the city, a great opportunity to get used to the MRT.
That’s all I learned from trial and error so far. In the end I was lucky being at the right place. I wanted to cancel that appointment and sign with another landlord (very small room for more money) but as he was busy and asked me to meet later, I wound up going to the other viewing. I liked it so much I immediately made it happen. I hadn’t done that if I hadn’t learned the hard way on my first viewing. It is an HDB building in Serangoon, further north than I initially wanted to go. To get to the MRT I will have to take the bus but so what, it’s still only 40 minutes to get to the city center. For now I am happy to have found something and I hope all goes smoothly. Should any more surprises wait for me in the palm trees that stand along the road to my building, I will update here.
May 9, 2011 1 Comment
This Saturday I set off to Salzburg, Austria, to attend an info day at a flight school.
Why Salzburg, I was asked. After all, most students there are Austrians or from southern Germany at best. Well, why Salzburg, that was actually a question they had to answer.
The beginnings
This story is not a particularly old one. I had seen an ad on Facebook – one of these that show up at the edge of your page and change immediately once you used a keyword in a status. “EAA – Euro Aviation Academy” – that was the name, and it caught my attention. I checked out their website really quick and “liked” their Facebook page merely as a very convenient way of bookmarking it. After all, this was before the Lufthansa fiasco when I thought nothing in the world could stop me and my “Plan B’s” were only vaguely drafted following the confident-arrogant assumption I most likely wouldn’t need them anyway.
Right after the friendly LH captain in Hamburg had hit me in the balls verbally I skimmed the web for alternatives. They are rare. Air Berlin is not really an option as their reputation is quite repelling. It was too late to apply for Swiss and that’s about it for airline-integrated flight schools. Lufthansa was simply the best way, and it is unique in its class. The alternative was to go to a “normal” flight school to obtain a license and then hope to find some company who wants me. This is not a worse way than the Lufthansa one though. After all, this gives me freedom and flexibility, as I have no bound to any airline and can choose freely. Lufthansa may be the best employer out there, no doubt about that, but secretly I had always eyed more towards Condor anyway. They have the more attractive route network, flying exclusively to nice places. Since it is no longer a subsidiary of Lufthansa, it is not possible for an LH pilot to fly for one of the world’s leading tourist carriers.
To get back on the story: I filled out some online enquiries at schools, among them the EAA. Their concept seemed appealing right away, a small company with experienced teachers and a great area of training – the Alps – right at the doorstep. But websites can tell you a lot and when it comes to investing around 70,000 Euros you shouldn’t base your decision on a website. I received an email reply within two hours of clicking send, in which some of my questions were already answered and a PDF of the school’s magazine was provided. A few days later I even received a call from there, which impressed me quite a lot. How many schools do that, being so proactive? I was talking to this friendly fella, Arnold, who proved to know an answer to every question I had. Of course I could only ask those that popped into my head right at that point as I was not expecting a phone call at all. A delicate point: the costs. An ATPL (Airline Transport Pilot License) costs a lot of money and everybody knows that. Still, some schools (I looked at and asked) try to haze the truth, talking about variable costs, variable duration depending on your learning progress etc. Arnold gave me a number right away: 68,000. Great, something to calculate with. I asked about living expenses, he gave me detailed information, I asked about the simulator, he gave me an answer. (Other schools have A320 and 737 simulators, is that an advantage? – No it’s not, because…) I felt I was talking to someone who knew exactly what he was talking about and who had the balls to speak the truth. That is important.
He invited me for their next info day, which they call “Pilot For One Day”, but it was already the following Saturday and neither flights nor trains were available at a justified price.
Then I received the invitation for the next one, on May 7, and since I currently intern at a travel agency I could easily check airfares. Air Berlin for 140€, that was alright. I emailed back to their office to confirm the invitation and booked my flight. The next day, Arnold called again to invite me personally. He hadn’t been given notice of my email yet so it was double effort, yet he managed to impress me again.
And so, on May 7th, early in the morning I drove off to Hamburg Airport and climbed aboard a pretty empty Air Berlin jet headed for the city of Mozart.
Discovering a city with lots to offer
While having been to Austria several times before, I had never been to Salzburg and therefore did not know what expected me there. Of course I mainly went to visit the EAA, but the event only started at 11:30 and would last for four hours. My flight, however, landed on 7:30 and I would not depart until 20:45 – the first flight in the morning and the last in the evening were the cheapest. So I was prepared for spending a day in this city I knew so little about.
It was a beautiful early summer day and on approach I already saw a great panorama of the Alps, which are probably the most beautiful of all mountain ranges – based on photos, mostly.
The airport, being very small, made me wonder how they were able to process the unbelievable masses of Russian ski tourists, who flock into the city on chartered jumbos daily in the winter months. On this summer morning it was almost dead. I purchased a bus ticket – they are much cheaper if bought from a ticket agency than if bought inside the bus. Cheap as I am, I went into the newspaper store to ask. The woman told me to go to the post office, where the woman told me to go to the “Trafik”. I had never heard that word before but apparently, Trafik is the Austrian word for newspaper store. So I went back there and the woman apologized, she had understood stamp instead of bus ticket (in German “Buskarte” and “Briefmarke”) so she gladly issued a one-day ticket. I took the chance to already check-in for my flight in the evening as Air Berlin does not offer online check-in for this airport.
As I still had so much time before the event started I took the bus into the city center – only fifteen minutes! – and walked about. The city center is represented by the Hanuschplatz, which is a square. Or is supposed to be one. Where I actually found myself was a place where the street running parallel to the river Salzach was a little broader than usual. As I was about to find out the city has much bigger, much more beautiful squares. I took a right and immediately stood in front of Mozart’s birth house. This town was making it a little too easy. I walked around more, and more, and more. Saw beautiful houses, saw the nice scenery of the Alps and thought astonished thoughts about the perfect location of this city.
The area itself has a long and great history. As early as the bronze age, people in the eastern Alps carved salt out of the mountains and successfully traded it. When the Romans marched into Noricum they already found people living here and merely relocated them from the hills into the valley. Throughout the middle ages Salzburg remained an important city in religious and political ways, rising to great wealth in the 15th century.
In medieval times this must have been the place every city-founder dreamed of. To the west, a natural barrier of solid alpine rock curves from and back to the bank of the river in form of a big C. To the east, the Salzach carries ice-cold, crystal clear water straight from the Alps flowing at a wicked speed – impossible to cross for a medieval army yet a great channel for trade in south-north direction towards the Danube. Hence, big expensive city wall was as unnecessary as building a harbor. On the highest peak of the western rock barrier the people built a fortress that stands tall above the surrounding areas. Mountains higher than this hill are still a couple of kilometers away and to the north, there is only flatlands. The perfect location for a stronghold protecting the city that lies beneath it.
Later in the afternoon I wasn’t alone anymore and it wasn’t as quiet as before either – a sh*tload of tourists, mostly Italian and Russian, was suddenly frequenting the nice promenades on both sides of the river, blocking the bridges from where you have the best views on the mountains and the fortress, and filling up the narrow gutters of the old town.
For me, it was time to get on my way anyway. But the bus ride can not really be taken into account for time-killing in a town that is so small. The flight school was supposed to be two stops from the airport, so I headed back the way I came. It was past 10:30 when I arrived, still quite early but being early is never wrong. I got off the bus and found the building Karolinenstraße 1 – one of these business park buildings, pretty new with lots of glass. I saw names of companies I had never heard of before (usually these are the most important ones though), an Asian restaurant (big surprise…) and, in the corner, only covering two windows, a big picture of an airplane cockpit. I checked for the name above the door – yes, I was right. Door was locked though and nobody inside. The Asians weren’t open yet either and it was too hot to sit outside on the curb and wait so I decided to walk down the street a little, see where it took me.
This beautiful DC-6 from Red Bull has its homebase at SZG
After only two minutes it took me directly to the entrance of Hangar 7, the home of the Flying Bulls, a flying club founded and sponsored by Red Bull. They are famous for their unique collection of beautiful aircraft, and their big DC-6 was standing outside shining in the sun. I went to the entrance, anticipating a big admission fee to repel me. To my surprise it was for free and I could look around the place. They do have a nice collection of airplanes, but sadly a lot of the space is used up by stupid race cars (formula one and stuff). All space that could be used for exposing more plane beauties, the cars all look the same. Whatever, it was a good way of passing the time and the few planes they had in there were really worth seeing.
Finally – the info event at the Euro Aviation Academy
When I came back to the academy the whole point of my visit was finally starting: the doors were open and inside I was greeted by name by a friendly young woman, Eva, and Arnold. When I came back from the toilet the company’s CEO had joined them and was engaging in chit-chat about the plane type I had arrived in with me. This man, I must say, is a textbook Austrian as I always pictured them – a 3-day beard, blonde hair that probably is invincible with gel and combs, this charming dialect and a fresh, easy-going and friendly attitude. Yes, I did have trouble understanding the people at a few points throughout the day but I felt I had crashed right into a circle of people who are warm-hearted and anything but judgemental. Can you believe Hitler was born right around the corner from where these people can be found?
Other than me there were probably nine (didn’t count) other people who were interested in becoming pilots. It was a small group and the certainly small room we were sitting in turned out to be the regular classroom – it only has eight seats, a teacher/lecturer’s desk and a couch. Cozy. We found a printed copy of the school’s magazine and a sample of “Airmen Beans” in front of us, filled our names and E-Mails into a name list demanded by airport security as we were going to go on the airfield later, and we started right away. Stefan, the CEO, told us about the job, the license, the structure of the course and the school itself, introducing all their flight instructors who come from the most different flying backgrounds ranging from retired 747 Captains to air ambulance pilots.All in all, the whole concept of this school confirmed my initial impression of this company being on a solid base, with a lot of know-how and expertise, people who know (and love!) what they are doing. Both these things are crucial for a student. Their self-developed software offers a real-time overview over the student’s progress and status, serves as a basis for flight planning and evaluation (that includes the student’s evaluation of himself as well as the instructor) and communication with the school, the Austrian aviation department and airlines. Another thing I find truly great. I have yet to see if the other schools I am considering offer something similar, but I don’t think they do.
The best part was yet to come – we drove over to the airport. Actually, we could have walked, it’s that close, and went into the hangar to take a close look at the school’s own aircraft, Diamond Katana and Cessna 172. We were invited to sit in the cockpits, look at the instruments and get the feel of it. It felt great. And such a small cockpit is much more comfortable than it looks from the outside, btw!
Next up, back at the school’s flight operations center, was the simulator flight. This can be described as a cockpit on the ground, with a 180-degree projection outside of the windows. Arnold sat down in the right seat and one by one, we guests took the left one. Take-off from Salzburg airport in great graphics that make it feel pretty real, fly around a little and get a feel for the aircraft. Then Arnold would load a different scenario and the plane was on approach for the runway.
I was quite excited when it was my turn but this whole business proved to be much easier than expected. Driving a car is probably more difficult. I took off and did a few turns during which I realized that this was even easier than in Microsoft Flight Simulator as the computer game does not adequately simulate the stability a plane gets in the air. At higher speeds pulling the yoke was sheer muscle work though. I better do some push-ups before starting my pilot career. Arnold commented that I was doing this pretty well and instead of loading the approach program gave me instructions on how to get there myself. He set the frequency for the VOR and made me fly there and turn. Pretty much like back at home, but this was as much more fun as it was more real. I got myself on the approach course well when he decided to change the weather to Cat I (basically: very low visibility) which made landing much harder. Still, I got her down well and I must say I was extremely proud of myself. Apparently I’m good at this.
Playing FS definitely helped here. I knew the instruments, the rules of flying and had a basic feel for it. People always say that the FS is not even remotely real and can in no way be compared to or used for training real aircraft operations – apparently they are wrong, it does help. The physics may not be simulated perfectly but, what may be much more important, one gets to know how a plane cockpit looks and works. The rest is easy to find out. So hello, all you people who called me a nerd, the approximately >1000 hours over the past ten years may pay off!
The simulator flight had been the last point on the agenda, but there was still chance to talk one-on-one with the three employees, ask further questions, get more info material and just have a nice chat. The latter I consider not even that unimportant. If I end up going there, one of the reasons for my decision will be that one can have a personal relationship with the people you work with there. That even the CEO knows one by name, that one is “per du”* with one’s instructors and the officials and can always feel free to consult anyone with problems and questions. This is furthermore supported by the ridiculously small classes: the sizes range between two and six. Comparison: at the Lufthansa academy the average class size is 30 and there is a new class starting every month.
*(for all non-German speakers: “du” is the informal way of addressing someone, typically paired with calling them by their first name, as opposed to the “sie”-address+last name which is much more distant and formal)
Can’t get enough of Salzburg
Well, maybe you can; for me it was more the prospect of moping around for four hours at a small provincial airport that drove me back into the core of the ‘salty castle’. Arnold and Eva were really helpful in designing the rest of my day in their hometown. I told them that I was interested in visiting the fortress and they were great with giving me info about how to get there and even looked up the bus schedule. I tried to express how much I had liked this day and how impressed I was with the EAA. I don’t think I able to. Still, I left with a good feeling. A feeling that now I had a definite favorite on my list of potential schools, that this had not thrown me off the pilot dream but rather encouraged me and that this company had a simply amazing program brought across by great people. As I turned away and walked towards the bus stop I thought “well, might not have been here the last time.”
View from the fortress north over the city
The city was full with tourists. But apparently I had caught a special day. Everything was for free. The Red Bull hangar had already been and at the entrance to the little funincula that takes people uphill into the fortress someone was handing out free tickets to the stronghold. All about the city were musicians and other little events taking place.
The fortress was stunning. Too bad I didn’t have the time/energy/motivation to really dig into the museum part of it. I just went to enjoy the view from up there, which is just amazing. The city lies directly beneath, the Alps present themselves in the greatest way possible and I couldn’t help but feel set back to the old days when this monumental building was loaded with cannons and catapults to fight off anyone who would dare getting close.
I was about to climb the highest tower but the wooden spiral staircase proved to be too strong for my acrophobia. That was sad, but the view was already amazing enough.
Naturally, I was starting to feel tired which is why I started slowly heading back to the airport. I enjoyed the view from its roof terrace and eventually, it was already time to go. For how long, I don’t know yet…
P.S.: I just found out that Arnold has his own blog. In German, he writes about his training and introduces the school as well.
April 6, 2011
Two days ago I set out on the hardest journey of my young life. I had been invited by Lufthansa to attend the final stage of the assessment process for future cadet pilots. With their own, integrated flying college in Bremen and Phoenix Lufthansa provides the undisputedly best airline pilot training on the planet. And every year the dream of attending becomes true for many, yet they are only about 9% of all those who share that dream.
The view outside my hotel window facing the threshold of HAM Runway 23 was a great motivation boost.
I had that dream. I had it for a long time and I held on to it when the world around me was changing rapidly. In July 2010 I attended the first stage of the process, carried out through the psychology experts at the German Aerospace Center in Hamburg. I passed this test – only 30% do – and in January, I was invited to finally attend the final one.
I hated waiting. Counting from when I visited the college in Bremen for an info day in June 2009, it was almost two years of waiting, waiting for the decision. As it came closer, I was nervous and afraid, of course, but also looking forward to the decision. Would my dream come true? Would I be safe to plan my life around this or would I be able to at least focus on something else? Either way, there would be closure.
So I went, optimistic but also well aware of the possibility of not passing. The first test in July, the BU (Berufsgrunduntersuchung) had tested for basic skills such as concentration, multitasking or orientation. This one was all about the personality. Group games, the DCT (dyadic cooperation test) and a difficult discussion with a psychologist were scheduled for the first day; the second holds a simulator test and the final job interview. It is hard to prepare for this properly as there is no optimal solution, nor can the outcome be influenced much. It’s mostly all about destiny at this point.
I did great, I was optimistic. The very first thing was the difficult conversation in which a compromise had to be found that suited both parties. Simple task, but of course the psychologists look at your behavior and conflict strategy very closely.
Next up was the DCT, where two candidates sit on a computer each having to load weights on streets. That is all the description one ever gets before the test from official as well as unofficial sides so I felt not well prepared for this. Turns out the description says it all. Load weights (imagine cars of different mass) on streets in cooperation with your partner (who has different cars at hand) so the street/bridge’s capacity is fully used. Points are counted but what it is really about is talking, communicating, exchange of information, cooperative problem solution. You get some kind of cockpit feel already since you communicate with your partner through a headset.
The end of the day marked two group games, one a planning game in which the personal goal was to get as few negative points as possible, but the obviously best solution for everyone to have about an equal share of points at the end. The following second group game was about distributing tasks to other people while taking over as few of their tasks as possible.
Then, we waited.
There were ten of us, there on their first day of this two-day ordeal. Moreover, three Dutch guys were having their job interviews here, as ready-entries (aka certified airline pilots merely applying for the job, not the training) and four men on their second day, the rest of the group that had started the Monday ten strong. Of those four, only one was taken.
After an eternity I was called in. There sat the head of the commission, a Captain himself and ironically the same who had talked me into applying on that info day almost two years before. Next to him, the friendly young psychologist who looks a little like Harry Potter. The Captain spared the torture and told me right away that the assessment had to be ended for me, explaining that they had seen I was “great” (unquote) in understanding other people’s situations, getting involved with that and working on equally acceptable compromises. FYI that is a great social skill for both pilots and non-pilots. However, in the group games I had not given enough impulses to coordinate the discussion process, leaving “a tiny little too much doubt in that field” (unquote). I understood and accepted that reason, as I really wasn’t the one who coordinated the group games, rather actively providing the information but that’s really all I did here.
Next the psychologist gave me a detailed feedback of the BU. This was interesting as he told me that I had done perfect in the English section, over-the-top in the Multiple Instrument Coordination task (multitasking, concentration, eye-hand-coordination) and space orientation. Math was not so good but no surprise about that. Passing the BU, the name of which can be translated with “basic skill check for the profession” (sounds a lot better in German though) basically tells me that I have what it takes to be a pilot. This second step was “”only“” (irony) the so-called FQ, which translates to Company Qualification Assessment. Or, as the Captain said “we look at you with Lufthansa-glasses and see if you fit into the company. That doesn’t mean that you are a bad person or a bad pilot, for that matter, but only that you don’t fit into our picture.” Of the ten of us, five didn’t fit into the picture after the first day and for sure, the majority of the other five were sorted out today.
It’s not too bad after all. Not passing is something one always has to take into account with the Lufthansa application and one has to be prepared for. Therefore, I’m not shocked or overly sad at all. Surprisingly, I’m not sad at all. I left there having accepted the fact that this door is closed. While recapturing it all, the feeling that this is something I will never be able to do in my life, much like solving an integral or scoring a goal in a soccer game, is somewhat hard to chew on but I think that will go away soon. I tried, I didn’t succeed, that’s life. Most people never even try.
Lastly, there is always more than one way to the desired outcome. That is true for (aspiring) pilots as well, although it is generally more difficult than for other people. The second-largest German airline, Air Berlin, maintains a small cadet program themselves. But their reputation in the scene (there really is a ‘scene’) is by far not the best. To even participate in the assessment process for the few dozen places every year, the candidate has to pay almost 500 Euros. Rumor has it that the airline is mainly looking out for those 500 Euros, often not hiring one single person out of a large group of candidates. Definitely not desired. But there are other ways. With the projected growth of worldwide air traffic, the development of 3rd world countries and the ongoing globalization, we won’t run short of jobs for pilots. Another rumor states that Swiss (Lufthansa subsidiary) has been cancelling flights due to lack of pilots.
All these frightening websites and articles I read which state otherwise are referring to the situation in the USA, where an airline pilot has only little more reputation than a bus driver and even a similar salary. In addition, over there every douche can obtain a pilot license (just like every douche there is allowed to drive a car and own a gun) under much more moderate requirements, so I may have done wrong in believing these texts.
So yes, this wasn’t the only shot I had. The Lufthansa way is definitely the best, the easiest, the most secure and the cheapest (they pay for all expenses and you pay them back from your later salary), but not the only one. Of course I will need some time to see if I still even want to be a pilot. But from the current point of view I want to even more than before. Should I still want to go on in pursuing that dream, then I will go on. Motivation is there and motivation is the key to everything. I could even re-apply for Lufthansa as a ready-entry pilot. Then this would only have been a speed bump.
However, when I got home this morning my motivation was intentionally crushed by my own mother. She calls it “realistic” although it is really more pessimism and inconsiderate stupid comments.
Introducing: my mother, the woman who claims to always support me. Thank you very much.
Uninformed readers must know that my mother, barely finishing middle school at the age of 17, hastily moved in with my dad and commenced an apprenticeship for a lawyer’s secretary. She never moved up in the world and now she isn’t even working in her field anymore, being an office worker at my stepdad’s bus company. I don’t like bashing on my mom but it’s just the truth that she has never achieved anything really noteworthy – compared to my past and planned achievements – in her entire life and is now a sad old poor woman who even leeches the orphan support money out of her children justifying it with the – indeed in a big part justified – argument that she paid for gas, food and bills for us. Even that is only partly true anymore. Her world is a world I do not live in and she doesn’t seem to get a grasp of what my world is like. Hence she lacks a complete understanding for everything, including my studies in Singapore (“I don’t know why you do that. It’s a waste of money and time.”) I have put up with that for a long time now, considering that she is dumb, narrow-minded and far less educated that me (no intention to sound cocky but that’s how it is.) Today it was enough so I exploded and told her off. Still, she managed to get my confidence even after the defeat down. They understood and accepted when I told them that I didn’t want to hear any word of pity if I came back with a negative result. But that wouldn’t have been as bad as this horrible demotivation.
Actually, at the moment I am more sad about my mother not supporting me (then again, she never has) than about my own defeat. This defeat means nothing much to me, actually. I was/am confident about not having to give up my dream (given that this dream will not uninstall itself from my heart now), but since I have come home I don’t feel as good about it anymore.
Really, what died in this ordeal was not my dream, not my hopes, not my confidence. It was the last bit of trust that my future might to some extent mean anything to my mom. Thank god I have the best girlfriend in the world, who will support me in anything, no matter what. Who gives a damn. And along with that, my friends, who have all been supportive until now and I am sure will in the future, no matter what way I go. The one way I definitely won’t go is the one my mother did. In that role as a negative example she does motivate me. Unintentionally.
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